


Karma

by Soleya



Series: Fifty First Dates [8]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28543473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soleya/pseuds/Soleya
Summary: Fifty First Dates.  Jack pushes the rules.  And karma pushes back.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Series: Fifty First Dates [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707853
Comments: 30
Kudos: 74





	Karma

**Author's Note:**

> I've been so spoiled with your reviews on the last three that I just wrote this. While I should be doing other things....

General Jack O’Neill should not have been standing in the Gate Room. Yes, he had unrestricted access to the SGC, and yes, it was his former team he was waiting for. And he could pretend all day that he was just hanging out to exchange pleasantries with Daniel and Teal’c, but that was a lie. He was in Colorado Springs for his first date with Sam Carter. And he was in the Gate Room because he couldn’t wait another second to see her. And that was an absolute abuse of privilege. And a horrible start to their relationship, to be honest. But he could play it cool and so could she.

They’d done it for more than eight years, after all.

“Jack,” General Landry murmured from his place beside him, “you’d get away with this better if you didn’t look so damned nervous.”

His eyes flew wide as he looked over. “Crap.”

“Yeah. Think about baseball or something.”

“Bowling,” Jack said.

“The Queen of England.”

“Oh, that’ll do it.”

The Gate lit up, then opened with its usual flair. The iris slid shut until Sergeant Harriman announced from the Control Room, “It’s SG-1’s code, sir.”

Jack opened his mouth, realized the mistake he was about to make, and deferred to Landry. “Open the iris,” the other man ordered.

“They’re signaling they’re coming in hot, sir.”

The two Generals glanced at each other. “I thought this was a peaceful planet,” Jack said.

“It was.”

“I wonder who they -”

The first weapon came flying through the Stargate so fast they couldn’t even follow it. No, they just heard the noise of metal slamming into the far wall of the Gate Room and turned in time to see a thick metallic spear with a multi-pronged, nasty-looking tip hit the concrete floor. “Cover!” Jack yelled, turning back toward Hank to make sure he was safe.

He didn’t get that far. Something slammed into his gut just below his ribs so hard that it flung him against the wall, his skull cracking painfully against the concrete. Stunned, it took him a long moment to realize that it had been a second spear. That it was _in_ him, spilling his blood onto the hands that had reflexively followed its impact. A moment later, his knees gave out and he slid to the floor.

“We need a medical team!” Landry yelled, catching his arm before he could keel over. “Jack. _Jack_.”

He couldn’t answer, too overwhelmed with both the mental and physical shock. All he could do was stare down at the spear sticking out of his gut and the shaky, bloody hands around it. He needed to get it _out_ , and he struggled to make his fingers tighten on the shaft.

“No, no, don’t do that,” Landry pressed, pulling his hands away. “Help is coming. Just try to breathe.”

In the distance, he heard boots clatter onto the ramp and someone – Mitchell? - order the iris closed.

And just after that, he heard her. “ _Oh, my God_!” Boots pounded down the ramp and Carter slid to her knees on his other side, both of her hands gently encircling his face. “Get a medical team!” she ordered, and he wanted to tell her that Landry had already asked for that, but he couldn’t make his lips work before someone beat him to it. “You’re gonna be okay, sir,” she promised. “You’re gonna be okay.”

His groin was warm, he realized. Either he’d wet himself or he’d lost that much blood that quickly. And either way, he was pretty sure she was wrong. He wasn’t going to be okay. A bloody hand reached for her, managed to catch a finger in one of the utility loops on her vest, and stuck. “Think I’m gonna miss our date,” he managed. Then, “Sorry.”

He saw the anguish crush her features for just a moment before she tried to paste on a smile. “Don’t worry about it,” she insisted, her thumbs tenderly stroking his face. “We’ll reschedule. We have plenty of time.”

“Promise?” he breathed.

“Promise.” But tears boiled up in her eyes and spilled over, and she leaned in to press her forehead to his. He was vaguely aware that they were surrounded – that someone had a hand on his lower leg and Landry was trying to stem the bleeding – but all he cared about was the warmth of her skin against his. “Stay with me,” she pleaded. “Jack. Stay with me.”

There was so much he needed to tell her. So much he’d wanted to say, but the only thing that came to mind was, “I kissed you.”

She pulled back just far enough to look at him, and for a moment he was lost in her beautiful blue eyes. “What?”

“Time loop,” he told her. “Kissed you. ‘Cause I thought…. Might not again.” It was getting so hard to breathe, blackness edging in on his vision. “Wasn’t fair.” But at least he had that much.

Even as the world went fuzzy around him, he saw her shore up her courage. Her lips were warm and tender against his frozen ones. And she was trembling. But she held the kiss until he managed to respond. “Help is coming,” she promised.

He knew that. He also knew they were too late. “Love you,” he breathed. Or he thought he did. He meant to. He could hear her calling his name from somewhere far away.

And the world went black.

~/~

Jack’s right arm was freezing. His right foot, too, and that didn’t make any sense when the left side of him was so warm. Hot, almost. He was already nauseous and off-kilter, and the temperature variance just made him feel sicker. Was he hung over? It felt that way but for the pain that radiated through this core. It was entirely possible that he was about to throw up either way, though, and he forced his eyes open.

The infirmary. He didn’t remember getting hurt or ending up there. He just remembered chatting with Landry in the Gate Room until….

Until it all went to hell. So that was why his torso hurt so much. But it didn’t explain the temperature differential, and Jack summoned his strength to turn his head to the left.

Sam Carter was _in_ his infirmary bed, curled up against his side with her head on a small pillow near his shoulder. There was nothing technically wrong with that; command structures had been shifted and they had the okay, but he was more than a little surprised that she’d be so open on the base. She had always been the consummate officer. “Mm,” he mumbled, shifting the arm that was under hers.

Her gorgeous blue eyes fluttered, then opened. “ _Jack_.” Her hand flew to his face, her thumb gently caressing his skin, and he felt like she’d done that before but couldn’t quite remember. He turned into her touch, wanting more. “Are you okay? Are you in pain?”

“Not bad.”

“Okay.” He felt her settle in beside him again, though her hand still warmed his face.

It took him a moment to work up the energy to say, “Never took you as a first date kinda girl.”

She looked up at him, confused. And then she got the joke and chuckled. Not enough to shake him, though, for which he was grateful. “I’m not,” she told him. “Then again, we haven’t actually had our first date yet.”

“And here you’re in bed with me,” he mumbled. “Hussy.”

He felt her smile against his shoulder. But when she lifted her head to speak to him again, her eyes were dark with emotion. “You shouldn’t have been in the Gate Room, Jack. There was no reason for you to be there.”

“I know,” he admitted. “But karma was awfully harsh about this, don’t ya think?”

“And fast,” she added with a nod. “Really fast and really harsh.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Four days.”

“Mm.” He knew he wasn’t gonna like the answer, but he asked, “And how long before I can eat a steak again?”

Her lips pressed together. “You’re gonna be living with this particular bad decision for a good, long time.”

“Mm,” he said again.

“Lesson learned?”

He thought about that for a while. And then he decided, “Probably not.”

With a sigh, she put her head back down.


End file.
